Welcome to Berane!
Berane (Serbian: Беране) is one of the largest towns in northeastern Montenegro and a former administrative center of the Ivangrad District. It is a seat of one of many multi-ethnic and multi-religious municipalities in Montenegro. The town is located on the Lim river. From 1949 until 1992 it was named Ivangrad (Cyrillic: Иванград) in honor of people's hero Ivan Milutinović. The town has a population of over 11 thousand, whereas its municipality area reaches nearly 30 thousand people, making it one of the largest centers in the Polimlje area.
During the medieval period the land of Berane was known as Budimlja (Будимља). It was of great holistic, political, and economic importance to the medieval Serbian state and its rulers. Until 1455, when Turks took the city, Budimlja was part of the wider historical region of Raška, within Medieval Serbia. From the first Serbian Uprising until its final liberation, fights against Turks were constant. Famous battles occurred from 1825 to 1862 when the most important Rudes battle was fought on 7 April which the Montenegrin rebels won. Berane was finally liberated in 1912. The town shared the destiny with its country being damaged in both World Wars. As Ivangrad, the town was meeting with prosperity and population growth being one of the Yugoslav industrial centers. Although the Civil War in Yugoslavia did not reach Montenegro, the city suffered from it as the industry collapsed and the people started to leave it. Nowadays, Berane is one of the poorest settlements in Montenegro so most of the population lives in difficult conditions. Despite that, the town remains an important educational, medical, religious, and sporting center, having produced many successful individuals in those categories.
Berane is the administrative center of the municipality of the same name. There are 13 elementary schools, four high schools, and four institutions of higher education. Having a solid sports infrastructure, the most successful sports collectives in the town are the handball club and table tennis club. Berane is connected with the rest of the country by two-lane motorways. It also has an airport which hasn’t been used for a while. In 2012, Berane celebrated 150 years since its official foundation and 100 years of being part of Montenegro.